In Brief
The Oriental Bank of Commerce assigned defaulted loan assets to Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd under a deed containing a Power of Attorney in Schedule 3. The deed was registered and charged to stamp duty as a conveyance under Article 20(a) at a reduced rate per Government notification. The tax authority later claimed additional duty was owed under Article 45(f) for the PoA. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that once a single instrument is correctly charged under one provision and duty is collected, it cannot be split and subjected to additional duty under another provision merely due to notification-based reductions. The PoA was incidental to the deed, and the power of sale derives from the Securization Act, not an independent instrument.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.